Hi everyone! First of all thanks for reading and sorry for quite late update. As we all know, I truly writing this story based on the original story . . . but, I change the ending. For those who actually read the original one, knew it. I hope you guys don’t mind, and sorry if the ending part not as you guys imagine.

And, to let you guys know, based on the original, it’s already the end. Yes, the story end when the girl meet the guy again. But somehow, I’m not sure whether I should end it here or not??? So, I’m not put the completed at the moment.

Once again, thank you!!!

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Shin Hye stand motionless on her spot as she watching the lift’s door close, sending Eun Hye away inside it. She’s in state of shock after hearing so many things from Eun Hye. Things that she never expected. After few minutes, then only she come back to her sense, and head for the stairwell, down the stairs. As she step out of the building, she switch off her phone. She don’t want any distraction. She need to think. And she need to be alone. So that she can work the things out by herself, as Eun Hye said to her before.

She start walking along the pavement, not caring which direction she’s going. Her mind is circling around all the facts, the guesses, the speculation, and back to the facts. As she reach the corner, she haul out her phone, turn it on, and without reading any single new message, she speed dial Soo Hyun.

“Of course he will not pick up.” She says with helpless grins, and waiting the call to be transfer to the voice-mail. “Hi Professor Kim Soo Hyun.” She says in the most confidence tone she can muster at this time. “Can you call me as soon as possible? We need to talk.” She pauses as she thinks that’s all she want to say, but she can’t. “Because . . . I’ve heard some news, OK?” Her hand feels welded to the phone. “I’ve been speaking to your great friend EUN HYE.” She give angry emphasis for ‘Eun Hye’. “And what she told me was a bit of a shock, to say the least, so I think we need to talk as soon as possible. Because unless you’ve got some great, marvellous explanation, which I can’t think how you would, because was Eun Hye lying? Because someone must be lying, Soo Hyun! Someone must be –“

 

The line cut off.

 

“Damn! This stupid voice message!” She curse as she turn the phone off. “Well never mind.” She breathing heavily, pursed her lip as she calm herself. “At least I made the call. At least I didn’t sit without doing nothing, avoiding the whole things.”

She inhales deeply. “I need to confront. And I can do it.” She says, step into the road, lift her hand and flag down a cab.

 

#  #

 

“Shin Hye!” Mrs. Kim swings the door open as she beams widely. “What a lovely surprise!” She swoops in for a kiss, then studies Shin Hye face again. “Have you just dropped round to be sociable or was there anything . . .”

“We need to talk.” Shin Hye cut off, telling straight the reason she was there.

There’s a brief moment of silence between them as Mrs. Kim takes the time to examine Shin Hye, before she understands that what she means is not some jolly chit-chat.

“I see, my dear. Come in.” Mrs. Kim smiles again to hide her anxiety, which actually can be see downward slant of her eyes, and Shin Hye notices it. “Shall I put on some coffee?” She say as the walking inside.

“Why not?” Shin Hye follow her into the kitchen, which is now so much different than the times she always coming there and take care of the house. She can’t help wrinkling her nose at a bad smell in the air, as she looks around to find where the smell come from.  Her eyes caught a bunch of flowers still in paper, gently rotting on the counter, a man’s shoe in the sink, and there are huge piles of old cardboard folders on every chair.

“Ah.” Mrs. Kim gestures vaguely around as though hoping one of the chairs might magically clear itself. “We were just having a sort-out.” She tells.

“Actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” Shin Hye immediately say, don’t want to let Mrs. Kim drag them into intelligence conversation as she used to.

“Indeed.” Says Mrs. Kim after a pause, probably shock with Shin Hye bluntly. “I rather thought there might be. Let’s sit down.” She grabs a pile of folders off a chair, to reveal a large fish wrapped in fishmonger’s paper.

‘So that’s the smell is!’ Shin Hye say in silent as her eye hook on that.

“That’s where that went. Extraordinary.” Mrs. Kim frowns, hesitates a moment, then puts the folders back on top of it. “Let’s try the drawing room.”

 

At last, Shin Hye sit down on the bumpy sofas and Mrs. Kim draws up an ancient chair covered in needlepoint opposite. The smell of old wood smoke, musty kilim and potpourri is overwhelming. Golden light is streaming through the original stained-glass panels in the windows. The room is so Kim’S. And so as Mrs. Kim who’s sitting in her usual uncompromising position, knees firmly apart, skirt draping around her legs, head tilted forward to listen, with her frizzy hair falling all around her face.

 

“Soo Hyun –“ Shin Hye begin, then immediately come to a halt.

“Yes, Shin Hye.” Mrs. Kim looking at her.

“Soo Hyun –“ Shin Hye stop again, and there’s silence for a moment. She don’t know where to start. Words are buzzing around her head like flies. And what the most is, the woman in front of her is a woman that so significant in her life, but she barely know her. They haven’t talked about anything except things that don’t matter. And now, she need to talk about something that matter. She swallow before she begins again.

“Soo Hyun, how many girls has he proposed to?” She throws it out even though it’s not the first question she wants to.

Mrs. Kim looks caught on. “Shin Hye.” She pause, and swallow. “Goodness. I really think Soo Hyun . . . This is a matter . . .” She rubs her face.

“Soo Hyun is out of town. I can’t talk to him. So I’ve come to talk to you.”

Mrs. Kim says nothing, except her graves expression as she look at Shin Hye.

“Eun Hye told me there’s a list and she and I are at the end of it. Soo Hyun never mentioned anyone else. He never even told me.” Shin Hye can’t keep the resentment out of her voice.

“Shin Hye. You mustn’t . . . “ Mrs. Kim lost her words. There’s silence for a moment before she continue. “Soo Hyun is very, very fond of you, and you really shouldn’t worry about . . . about that. You’re a lovely girl.”

Shin Hye clench her hand into her skirt as she heard. She take it as Mrs. Kim trying to be kind, but she doesn’t know that the way she says it makes her flinch. ‘Lovely girl? Am I? What does it count? I’m might not have a brain but I’m look just OK? Is that it?’

“Mrs. Kim, you’re making me feel inferior.” The words rush out from Shin Hye. “Do you really think I’m inferior or this just in my mind?” She herself can’t believe she’s saying it out loud.

“What?” Mrs. Kim eyes widen so far. She seems so shocked.

“I feel inferior when I’m here.” Shin Hye pause. “Always. And I just wondered if you really though I was, or . . .”

Mrs. Kim can’t sit properly anymore, as her both hands raking into her frizzy hair. She mindlessly pick up a pencil and without reason put it down on the table. “I think we both need a drink.” She says at last. She heaves herself up out of the sagging chair and pours two glasses of wine from a bottle in the cabinet. She hands one to Shin Hye, raises her own and takes a deep gulp. “I feel a bit knocked for six.”

“I’m sorry.” Shin Hye immediately feel bad.

“No!” Mrs. Kim raises a hand. “Absolutely not! Dear girl! You do not have to apologize for kind of expression perception of the situation, be it a construct or not.”

Shin Hye eyeing her, have no idea what she’s going on about.

“It’s up to me to apologize.” Mrs. Kim continues. “If you have ever felt uncomfortable, let alone ‘inferior’. Although, this is such a ridiculous idea, that I can barely . . .” She trails off, looking baffled. “Shin Hye, I simply don’t understand. May I just ask what has given you this impression?”

“You’re all so intelligent.” Shin Hye shrug uncomfortably. “You publish things in journals and I don’t.”

Mrs. Kim looks perplexed. “But why you should publish things in journals?”

“Because . . . “ Shin Hye rub her nose. “I don’t know. It’s not that. It’s . . . like, I don’t know how to pronounce ‘Proust’.”

Mrs. Kim looks even more baffled. “You clearly do.”

“OK, I do now! But I didn’t. The first time I met you I kept getting things wrong, and Mr. Kim said my physiotherapy degree was amusing, and I felt so mortified . . .” Shin Hye break off, suddenly blocked.

“Ah.” A light dawns in Mrs. Kim’s eye. “Now, you must never take Mr. Kim seriously. Didn’t Soo Hyun warn you? His sense of humour can be, shall we say, a little off?” She pause as like asking Shin Hye. “He’s offended so many of our friends with misplaced jokes, I can’t count.” She raises her eyes briefly to heaven. “He is a dear man underneath it all, though as you’ll get to know.”

Shin Hye can’t bring herself to reply, so she take a gulp of her wine. As she look up, Mrs. Kim sharp eyes are on her.

“Shin Hye, we’re not the type to gush. But believe me, Mr. Kim thinks as highly of you as I do. He would be shocked to hear of your anxieties.””

“So what about the bickering in the church all about?” Shin Hye fling the words at Mrs. Kim furiously before she can stop herself.

Mrs. Kim looks as though she’s been slapped.

“Oh, my dear. You heard that. I’, sorry. I didn’t realize.” Mrs. Kim takes another mouthful of her wine, looking stressed out.

“OK.” Shin Hye put her glass down, suddenly feel sick of being polite and talking around things. She wants to cut the chase. “The reason I’ve come here is, it turns out Soo Hyun has been sleeping with Eun Hye. So, I’m calling off the wedding. So you might as well be honest and say how much you hated me from the start.” She throws all her words.

“Eun Hye?” Mrs. Kim claps a hand over , looking stunned. “Soo Hyun! That wretched, wretched boy! When will he learn?” She seems absolutely deflated by the piece of news. “Shin Hye, I’m so sorry. Soo Hyun is . . . what can I say? A flawed individual.”

“So . . . you guessed he might do this?” Shin Hye stare at her. “Has he done it before?”

Mrs. Kim lost in lengthy silence before she speak up. “I’m afraid he might do something stupid.” She looks at Shin Hye. “I’m afraid whatever gifts Soo Hyun inherited from us, the gift of commitment was not among them. That’s why we were concerned about the wedding. Soo Hyun has a history of leaping into romantic ventures, backtracking, changing his mind, making things messy for everyone . . .”

“Then he has done it before.” Shin Hye chimes in.

“In a way.” Mrs. Kim winces. “Although we’ve never got as far as the church before.  There have been three previous fiancées, and I gather Eun Hye was an almost-fiancée. When he announced yet again that he was marrying a girl we hardly knew, I’m afraid we didn’t rush to celebrate.” She eyes Shin Hye, frankly. “You’re right. We did try to put him off the idea in the church, quite forcibly. We thought the two of you should spend a year getting to know each other better. The last thing we wanted was for you to be hurt by our son’s idiocy.”

Shin Hye feel dazed. She has no idea Soo Hyun had proposed to anyone else. ‘How can this be? Is this my fault? Did I ever actually ask him about his past?’

Her mind backtrack their conversation before. ‘Yes. Yes! Of course I did!’ She remember they were resting on the sofa, after the dinner. They told each other about all their old flames. And, she didn’t leave out four previous proposal she had.

‘But . . . he never say a word. Yes, not a word.’ She pursed her lip tights, swallows hard. ‘But everyone else knew.’

And, now all the odd looks and edgy voices between Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kim during at the church make sense to her. ‘It’s not about me. It’s not about they think how crap I was.’ She swallows again.

“I thought you hated me.” Shin Hye say almost to herself. “And I thought you were angry he’d used the family ring because . . . I don’t know. I wasn’t worthy of it.” She says in quavering voice.

“Not worthy?” Mrs. Kim seems absolutely appalled. “Oh my dear, who has put these ideas into your head?” She says in worried.

“What was the problem, then?” Shin Hye feel the old hurt rising again. “I know you weren’t happy about it, so don’t pretend.”

Mrs. Kim appears to debate internally for a moment. Her eyes on Shin Hye. “We’re being frank with each other?” She ask at last.

“Yes.” Shin Hye firmly say. “Please.”

“Well then.” Mrs. Kim sighs. “Soo Hyun has taken that family ring out of the bank’s safe so many times now. Mr. Kim and I have developed our own private theory.”

“Which is what?” Shin Hye eager to know.

“The family ring is so easy. It requires no thought. He can do it on impulse. Our theory is that when he really wants to commit to someone, he’ll find a ring for himself. He’ll choose something carefully. Give it some thought. Perhaps even let his bride choose her own.” Mrs. Kim gives an apologetic smile. “So when we learned that he’d used the family ring yet again . . . I’m afraid alarm bells rang.” She says before let out deep heavy breath.

Shin Hye clenched tightly into the glass. “I see . . .” She say helplessly as she look down at the ring on her finger. It suddenly feels heavy and lumpish. ‘I thought having a family ring was special. I though it meant Soo Hyun was more committed to me.’ Her jaw moving as she clenches her teeth. ‘But now I know, it’s a thoughtless, easy, no-brainer choice . . . by him.’

“For what it’s worth.” Adds Mrs. Kim, a little sadly. “I’m very sorry things have ended like this. You’re a lovely girl, Shin Hye. Great fun. I was looking forward to having you as a daughter-in-law.”

Shin Hye freeze, staring at her as the word ‘great fun’ replay in her ear. For the first time since she’s met Mrs. Kim, she’s able to take her words at face value. Great fun – not low IQ and inferior degree.

“I’m sorry too.” She say, speaking the truth. She suddenly feel sad. ‘I thought Soo Hyun was perfect and his parents were my only problem. But now, I’m feeling like it’s the other way round. Mrs. Kim is great, and shame about her son.’

She inhales deeply as she look down at her finger.

“Here.” She wrench the ring off and hand it to Mrs. Kim.

“Shin Hye!” Mrs. Kim looks startled. “Surely –“

“It’s all over. I don’t want to wear it anymore. It belongs to you. To be honest, it never really felt like mine.” Shin Hye grab her bag and stand up. “I think I should go.”

“But . . .” Mrs. Kim seems bewildered. “Please don’t rush into anything. Have you spoken to Soo Hyun?”

“Not yet.” Shin Hye breathe out. “But it’s kind of irrelevant. It’s over.”

 

There’s lengthy silence between them before they take it as the end of the conversation.

 

“I’m going.” Shin Hye say at last, slowly marching her step towards the door, before Mrs. Kim reluctantly following her. As both of them standing at the door, she suddenly feel sad to leave her. She look down at her hand as Mrs. Kim presses it gently, before she leave. She suddenly feel a sudden rush of affection for her. “Bye.” She manages to say her goodbye with her eye sadly looking at Mrs. Kim.

“See you again, my dear Shin Hye.” Mrs. Kim says as she slowly close the door.

 

As the massive front door closed, Shin Hye push her way through the path to the gate. ‘My perfect fiancé isn’t perfect after all. He’s a lying, unfaithful, commitment-phobic flake.’ She tells herself silently. ‘I’m going to call off the wedding. Mt brothers won’t get to walk me up the aisle after all.’ She keep telling herself as she walk down the hill, as the more she say the more numb she feel.

She want to get a cab, but instead she goes differently as her feet brings her towards the bench in a patch of sunshine, before she sit down and stare blankly into space for a while. Random thoughts are floating around her brain, bouncing off each other as though in zero gravity.

‘It’s so much for all this today . . . should I sell my dress? Is it able to sell . . . it’s good to know the truth . . . I must tell the priest . . .’ She didn’t realize she breathe in difficult. ‘Is oppa and Hyung Sik ever liked Soo Hyun? They never admitted it . . .’ The thought suddenly cross her mind before another thought come in as she swallows hard. ‘Did Soo Hyun ever love me at all?’

She freeze in silent as the though replay in her mind.

Inhales a deep breath, she switch on her phone. “I have to get back to real life.” She say as the phone is flashing with messages.

“Min Ho.” She utter calmly, as by see his name she suddenly feel alive. She instantly click on the messages.

Shin Hye, are you there? It’s incredible. File was on computer. Voice-mails were there. This confirms everything.  

The second text:

Are you around to talk?”

Third:

Give me a call when you can. It’s all kicking off here. Heads rolling. PC this afternoon, Jin Kyung wants to talk to you too.

Fourth:

Shin Hye, we need the phone. Can you call me ASAP?

 

As she read the texts, not bothering the rest of it that she not reading yet, she instantly press ‘call’. She suddenly feel nervous as she heard the ringing on the line, which she don’t have any idea why.

 

“Hi Shin Hye! At last! It’s Shin Hye!”

Min Ho brightly voice is greeting her the moment the call is pick up. She can hear a background noise of people.

“We’re all whooping here. You have no idea what your little discovery means.” Min Ho adds.

Shin Hye didn’t realize she’s actually smiling as she heard it. “Not my discovery. It’s Seol Hyun.” She say honestly.

“But if it hadn’t been for you taking Seol Hyun’s call and meeting her . . . Jin Kyung says, high-five! She wants to buy you a drink. We all do!” Min Ho sounds totally thrilled. “Did you get my message?” He ask with concern. “The tech guys here want to look at the phone, just in case there’s anything else on it.”

“Oh, right. Sure. I’ll bring it to your office.” Shin Hye response immediately.

“Is that OK?” Min Ho pause a second. “I mean . . . am I not disrupting your day? What are you up to?”

“Oh.” She gasp. “Nothing . . .” She say helplessly.

‘I just cancelling my wedding. I just found I’m totally a fool.’ She pursed her lip as she hold her breath, before response.

“I’m fine. I’ll come to you –“

“I can send a car –“

“No, really.” She cut off. “It’s really fine.” She force a smile as she say. “I’ll come in straight away.” She say as she striding along the pavement and hails for a cab.

 

# #

 

Differently this time, Shin Hye didn’t have any trouble getting into the building. Practically, there’s a reception committee waiting for her – Min Ho, Jin Kyung, Yeon Seok, Chang Wook and a couple more people that she don’t recognize, standing by the glass doors, ready with a badge and handshakes and lots of explanations which last all the way up in the lift.

And the facts she found are as follows:

The voice mails are hundred percent incriminating. Several members of staff were pulled in for questioning. Woo Bin lost his cools and practically admitted everything. There’s also another senior member of staff also involved. Dong Gun has disappeared of the radar. Lawyers are having meetings. It’s not sure yet whether criminal proceedings are likely, but the point is Mr. Cheon name is cleared.    KBS has turned the story from ‘Government Adviser is Corrupt’ into ‘Internal Company Problem is Sorted’ but they’re still running a follow-up piece and claiming they were the ones who discovered everything.

 

“The whole company’s going to be shaken up by this.”

Min Ho voice pulls Shin Hye back on the ground as she turn to him as they stride along the corridor. “The lines are going to be redrawn.”

“You’ve won!” She says excitedly, kind of cheering.

He comes to a halt, smiling widely at her.

“Yup! We’ve won!” He resumes walking and ushers her to his office. “Here she is! The girl herself. Park Shin Hye.” He say as he enter his office.

Two guys in jeans get up from the sofa, shake Shin Hye hand and introduce themselves as Siwon and Dong Hae.

“So you’ve got the famous phone.” Says Dong Hae. “Might I take a look?”

“Of course.” Shin Hye reach into her pocket, produce the phone and hand it over.

For a few moments the guys examine it, pressing buttons, squinting at it, passing it from one to another.

“You mind if we keep this?” Dong Hae says at last, looking up at Shin Hye.”

“Keep it?” She can’t help the dismay of her voice, which is so obvious.

“Sorry. It’s a company phone, so I assumed . . .” He hesitates, gazing at her, before turn to Min Ho.

“It’s not anymore.” Says Min Ho. “I gave it to Shin Hye. It’s hers.” He explains.

“Oh.” Dong Hae air through his teeth, seems a bit flummoxed. “Thing is, we’d like to do a thorough examination of it. Could take a while. I could say we’ll let you have it back afterwards.” He look at Siwon. “But